The problem with unifying Church and State is it becomes the unification not of some abstract Church, but specifically the Church of the ruling class. In this case Bart Stupak’s efforts to hijack health care reform to push an anti-women agenda is part of a larger effort to put God into Government.

The health care bill is a series of very small steps towards meaningful reform. We should be able to take those steps without them falling on the neck of women’s rights.

Mr Stupak’s threat is a serious one and it deserves a vicious rhetorical response. His efforts cannot be seen as anything less than anti-reform, and anyone who is against reform at this point isn’t a Democrat. This goes deeper than party loyalty however. This battle is a real struggle between those who are truly pro-life and those who are pro-insurance-company-profits. Theocratic forces have seen an opening and are standing with the paid-for anti-reformers to try and maneuver for power.

Given the weight of this battle we ought let fly without reserve. From a rhetorical perspective we should hold nothing back and purposefully include the Stupak crowd in with the anti-reformers. The tendencies towards binding US law to a strict interpretation of conservative Christianity is fundamentally incompatible with the separation of Church and State, the 1st amendment, and inclusion within the Democratic party. Any elected official taking such a position needs to feel the heat directly under their feet if we are to drive home our position:

Health Care reform is vital.

Theocratic laws are never acceptable.

We will never sacrifice women’s rights to advance the “greater” progressive agenda. Women’s rights are an irremovable part of the progressive agenda.

We are nowhere near victory but the very act of lifting up our heads to speak as we lay in the mud has conservatives frothing at the mouth and banging their spears against their shields. If we are to survive much less win, we absolutely must stand united, tall and firm and let loose one hell of a roar.